Blog IV and V, The Proposal Project

Soon you will be getting your proposal assignment.  For assignment four, you are to think about a problem that needs a solution.  Traditionally, technical writers create proposal projects all the time.  Your proposal does not need to technical; however, you should have a problem and a solution.  For this blog, you need to do the following:

(1)Think about a problem and describe it in at least three sentences.  To do this successfully, you must consider the problem's impact on society, the environment, or, possibly, the world. 

(2)Next, write a solution this problem.  Your solution should be mature and logical.  Your grade depends on how practical your response is. 

(3)For the last part of this assignment, you are to cite support for your solution in a secondary source.  For this particular post, you must do an APA citation.  When you have done that, you must put the Reference at the bottom of your blog for full credit.

We will be going over how to do the APA citations you need in class tomorrow.  Best of luck.  I know you can do it!

Blog III: Your Favorite Website

For this post, you are to discuss your favorite website.  First, discuss why use this website.  What does it offer you?  Using terms discussed in Chapter 9, write a brief critique on your favorite website. Is there anything that needs to be improved?  Also, consider the different contexts (PEPE) and readers (Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary).  Full credit will be given to blogs that have terms like homepage, nodes, and links.  This post is good practice for those of you doing the website critique.

Ebay: Auction II

For this blog, you are to ignite your free-market instincts and create an auction a mock Ebay auction.   First, you need to find an item that you want to sell.  Once you've done that, then you need to write a three-sentence ad in which you describe it.   The description should include what it is, the item's condition, it's price, and your shipping policies.   After you finish with that, you need to discuss the four contexts (political, economic, ethical, and physical) related to your sale.  For example, are you selling a bootleg LP or something that is not commercially manufactured?  What might be some ethical principles surrounding an illicit item.  As for economic, what socioeconomic class is your item for—the rich, middle-class, or the plebs?  Regarding the physical, in what environment is your item going to be used?   And when you get to the political, think about the ideology of your potential buyer.  Does the item appeal to someone with a certain political ideology?

Your ad should not be written in an overly complex way.  Remember, the average person reads at about a fourth grade level, so remember your audience. 

Best of luck!

Blog I: Fall of 2013. Blogging about Work.

You've just been hired at Calvin and Hobbs[sic], an investment company.   Most of your day consists of seeing clients and giving them financial advice.  Being that you are such a grade-A swindler, you are making good money.  Unfortunately, sitting behind a desk all day gets boring.  But, one day, while walking to the water cooler you over hear Jane talking on the phone with one of her girlfriends. 

Although she is personable enough, there are days you wish she would put down her phone to stifle herself.  She talks about her nights at the clubs, guzzling Cosmos and going home with different men.  You often ponder what any man would see in a woman plain as vanilla yogurt and as obnoxious as a braying jackass.  Just when you thought you had enough, your imagination starts:  Why not write down these stories and put them on a blog. 

You recall reading an article about making money starting a blog while sipping your imported coffee drink at Starbeans, a good company buying coffee beans at third-world prices only to charge their customers a terrorist's ransom for a sip of their re-badged Folgers.  After snapping your fingers, you raid the office supply room for a legal pad and wait as Jane starts talking.  Her awful laugh sends shivers down your spine, but your steady hand guides the pen.  True-blue ink fills the space between lines, as you absorb last night's drunken high-heeled excursion.

For this first blog posting, you are to consider the legal problems with writing a blog about one of your coworkers.  To help you consider the dangers, go to this link: https://www.eff.org/issues/bloggers/legal

Write at least one danger you could face by writing a blog.  Then, discuss if you have to reveal your identity if you decide to risk blogging about coworkers.

Once you've done that, what might be some things you can do to protect yourself from harm while writing your stories.   Hint:  Think about the identities and names of people.

This first blog should be at least five to seven sentences long.

Kickstarter Project

For blogs III and IV, I want to start thinking about a project you want to accomplish.  This project needs to be funded.  Try to imagine yourself as an entrepreneur wanting to get your project off the ground.  You can be an aspiring filmmaker, a software developer, or a restaurant owner; the possibilities are endless. Once you have decided on your project, you must write your ad.

Here are the requirements needed for this blog:

(1)An ad that is at least a paragraph long. In this ad, you must consider your rhetorical situation (the five w's and the how).  Write a professional ad where you describe your project and your goal.

(2)Make sure you name your price for this project.  Next, set a number of days for you will keep this ad open.  For example, do you expect you'll need forty days to receive ten thousand dollars for your project?

(3) Once you've completed the second set, write what your backers will receive for their donations. Here's an example:

(A) Those who pledge $100 to Pro. P's PhD fund will receive a limited edition note card with the grand scholar's research scribble.  Raspberry mocha coffee ring included.

(B)Those who pledge $1,000 will receive a hand-written rough draft entitled Pro. P's Guide to Italian Horror Movies and Soundtracks and Their Subversive Irrelevance to Composition Theory and other Rhetorical Nonsense. Impress your philistine friends with this hard-to-read scholarly chicken scratch complete with poems and sketches made during class.

(C) Those who pledge $3,000 will receive an awkward smile, a whimpy handshake, and a free continental breakfast from Denny's—coffee and orange juice not included. Consider this cheap, greasy, unhealthy breakfast as way of shielding my true elitist tendencies.  I want to be a PhD for the people.  Please note: No Romantic languages will be spoken during this sit-down, mainly because I will have forgotten them after writing my dissertation.

(4)Once you have written your incentives for your backers, conclude with the contexts of your ad (PEPE). Then write and briefly discuss the different readers of your ad. 

(5)This ad should concise and well-written.  The smoother your delivery, the more likely someone will give you money.   You may also make a video to help promote your project.

(6)This will be due by Sunday, March 2nd.  It will count as two blogs.  Best of luck.

Blog II: Summer B

The Career Search

Congratulations!  You are coming close to the end of your first four years of college.  You are now ready to start thinking about your career.  For this blog, I would like you to choose your dream career.  In doing so, you are to answer the following questions:

(1)What is your career?

(2)What education requirements do you need for this career?

(3)What the salary expectations are?

(4)What experience do you need before you can take this job?

Then, once you have finished answering those questions, you must write an objective statement that might go on a future resume or CV.  This objective statement should not be too narrow or too broad.  Instead, it should it be just right for this job.

Good luck!

Blog I, Summer B

Facebook Report

           

            You are an admissions officer in a first-tier college.   The finest talent of the nation attends your school.  It just so happens that a large percentage of undergraduates continue their graduate studies at your school.  Unfortunately, it gets harder and harder to let new students into graduate programs because the seats are filled by former undergraduates.

            A respected colleague of yours comes up with a suggestion: A recent article written about party universities reveals your college to be in fifth place out ten schools.  Going from this article, your colleague suggests infiltrating students' Facebook pages for acceptance or denial into the graduate programs.   You like the idea and come up with a document called the Facebook Report.  In this report, you name the students who have inappropriate material on their Facebook pages.  For this blog posting, you are to do the following:

(1)Briefly discuss how you plan to infiltrate a student's Facebook page.

(2)Discuss what things would constitute grounds for rejecting a former student into your graduate program.

(3)Name the four readers of your document, Facebook Report, and how the role they play in perusal of your exposé.  Hint:  the four readers are gatekeeper, primary, secondary, and tertiary.

Kickstarter Project

For blogs IV and V, I want to start thinking about a project you want to accomplish.  This project needs to be funded.  Try to imagine yourself as an entrepreneur wanting to get your project off the ground.  You can be an aspiring filmmaker, a software developer, or a restaurant owner; the possibilities are endless. Once you have decided on your project, you must write your ad.

Here are the requirements needed for this blog:

(1)An ad that is at least a paragraph long. In this ad, you must consider your rhetorical situation (the five w's and the how).  Write a professional ad where you describe your project and your goal.

(2)Make sure you name your price for this project.  Next, set a number of days for you will keep this ad open.  For example, do you expect you'll need forty days to receive ten thousand dollars for your project?

(3) Once you've completed the second set, write what your backers will receive for their donations. Here's an example:

(A) Those who pledge $100 to Pro. P's PhD fund will receive a limited edition note card with the grand scholar's research scribble.  Raspberry mocha coffee ring included.

(B)Those who pledge $1,000 will receive a hand-written rough draft entitled Pro. P's Guide to Italian Horror Movies and Soundtracks and Their Subversive Irrelevance to Composition Theory and other Rhetorical Nonsense. Impress your philistine friends with this hard-to-read scholarly chicken scratch complete with poems and sketches made during class.

(C) Those who pledge $3,000 will receive an awkward smile, a whimpy handshake, and a free continental breakfast from Denny's—coffee and orange juice not included. Consider this cheap, greasy, unhealthy breakfast as way of shielding my true elitist tendencies.  I want to be a PhD for the people.  Please note: No Romantic languages will be spoken during this sit-down, mainly because I will have forgotten them after writing my dissertation.

(4)Once you have written your incentives for your backers, conclude with the contexts of your ad (PEPE). Then write and briefly discuss the different readers of your ad. 

(5)This ad should concise and well-written.  The smoother your delivery, the more likely someone will give you money.   You may also make a video to help promote your project.

(6)This will be due by Sunday, March 2nd.  It will count as two blogs.  Best of luck.

Summer-A: Blog II Website

Designing a Website

You are to write a design for a website on your second blog.  This little assignment can help you formulate your ideas for your third writing project.  To get full credit for this assignment, you must do the following:

(1)Create a name for your website.

(2)Define it's purpose.

(3)List the different readers and their relationship to your blog.

(4) Briefly describe how you would design your blog.  What images would you use?

(5) Good luck!

Summer-A ENC 1102 (Tech.): Blog I

            

         

 

                Well, it has finally happened:  Decades of overpriced, under-powered hardware finally convinced once gullible consumers to spend their stimulus money on PC's and related accessories.  In 2014, Apple showed a 30 billion profit loss. Furthermore, Apple owes more than 100 billion to creditors who manufacture various parts for their computers, phones, and tablets.  These third-world creditors refuse to issue more money until Apple can prove it can make a profit.  Unfortunately, with this record loss, Apple shares dropped from $452.90 to $3.25.  Rather than continue to fight a losing battle, Apple has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, liquidating its assets to pay back creditors. 

            Hearing this good news, Re-Commodore, a burgeoning electronics company has decided to put a bid and buy the dying company.  Their hope is to buy the technology and relicense it using their brand name. 

            After months of negotiating, Re-Commodore acquires Apple's assets and debts.  Before they start their marketing campaign, the new owners must decide who of Apple's originals should remain or go.  Currently, you are a labor executive for Re-Commodore and you get to decide who should remain or be fired.  Below is the chopping-block list:

Dr. Tim Crook, a brilliant chip designer, with a background in marketing.  Rather scruffy-looking and ill-tempered.  He also has a bad case of halitosis.  Nevertheless, he has a number of successful products under his belt—along with some costly failures.

Judy Leighton, the former cute, voluptuous secretary for Apple's former VP.  She is not the smartest card in the circuit board, but she is pretty to look at and highly organized.  Her organizational skills prolonged Apple's life.

Bubba Jones, former head of Apple security.  Mean and tattooed all over; responsible for wetting the pants of many reporters with just a glance. He took a bullet for the former CEO of Apple during a Microsoft assassination attempt.   Not much for conversation, but has been known to be somewhat pleasant if he knows you are on his side.

Rachel Scandalous, Marketing Director of Apple.  She is fairly intelligent and has a reputation of getting secrets from other companies with her bedroom eyes.   Hated by just about all of the female employees at Apple; yet, despite her reputation, her actions helped Apple develop the Ipad.

John Scuzz, A rather obese programmer who practically lives in his office.  He smells like a bag of opened potato chips left in a cooler full of swamp water. Known throughout the building as leisure-suit Scuzz.  Ugly as hell, but an intelligent programmer who helped make Leopard what it is today.  Claims to have helped Gates write DOS; however, this rumor is still unconfirmed.

Buddy Troll, a key engineer who helped design the slim, attractive products that Apple fan boys gobbled up faster than a starved dog with a tapeworm.  Received the nickname Party Pizza because his face looks like a cooked Party Pizza. A poor conversationalist, but a genius engineer.  Many have offered him jobs, but he has turned them down, stating his dedication to Apple as the reason.

Your job for this first blog posting is to pick three of these six employees for Re-Commodore new electronic company.  These three will stay on and work to make Re-Commodore the next Apple.  Once you pick your favorites, you must support your choice and explain how they will be useful to Re-Commodore in a short memo.  You know their strengths and weaknesses.  Now, you have to sell your choices to Re-Commodore's CEO.  I wish you the best of luck! 

Kickstarter Project

For blogs IV and V, I want to start thinking about a project you want to accomplish.  This project needs to be funded.  Try to imagine yourself as an entrepreneur wanting to get your project off the ground.  You can be an aspiring filmmaker, a software developer, or a restaurant owner; the possibilities are endless. Once you have decided on your project, you must write your ad.

Here are the requirements needed for this blog:

(1)An ad that is at least a paragraph long. In this ad, you must consider your rhetorical situation (the five w's and the how).  Write a professional ad where you describe your project and your goal.

(2)Make sure you name your price for this project.  Next, set a number of days for you will keep this ad open.  For example, do you expect you'll need forty days to receive ten thousand dollars for your project?

(3) Once you've completed the second set, write what your backers will receive for their donations. Here's an example:

(A) Those who pledge $100 to Pro. P's PhD fund will receive a limited edition note card with the grand scholar's research scribble.  Raspberry mocha coffee ring included.

(B)Those who pledge $1,000 will receive a hand-written rough draft entitled Pro. P's Guide to Italian Horror Movies and Soundtracks and Their Subversive Irrelevance to Composition Theory and other Rhetorical Nonsense. Impress your philistine friends with this hard-to-read scholarly chicken scratch complete with poems and sketches made during class.

(C) Those who pledge $3,000 will receive an awkward smile, a whimpy handshake, and a free continental breakfast from Denny's—coffee and orange juice not included. Consider this cheap, greasy, unhealthy breakfast as way of shielding my true elitist tendencies.  I want to be a PhD for the people.  Please note: No Romantic languages will be spoken during this sit-down, mainly because I will have forgotten them after writing my dissertation.

(4)Once you have written your incentives for your backers, conclude with the contexts of your ad (PEPE). Then write and briefly discuss the different readers of your ad. 

(5)This ad should concise and well-written.  The smoother your delivery, the more likely someone will give you money.   You may also make a video to help promote your project.

(6)This will be due by Sunday, March 2nd.  It will count as two blogs.  Best of luck.

CAMSTUDIO PROJECT: BLOG II, SPRING 2013

Camstudio is a free desktop recorder that allows you make videos on your PC or Mac.  This software, coupled with Windows Live Movie Maker, allows you to be your own filmmaker.  With some practice, you can edit and make movies like the pros do but without expending large amounts of capital.   Take  minute to click on the movie I created with Camstudio, Audacity, and Windows Live Movie Maker.  It's called Mixie-Trixie.  Some of you may remember it from the memo example I used in the previous class. To make the preview, I recorded clips from Prosperi's Wild Beasts and created a separate soundtrack using Danielle Patucchi's music.  When editing, I had to digitally split and fuse scenes to match the soundtrack.  Here is my short movie:

For this second blog, you can do two things.  You make a short clip using your smartphone, Camstudio, or any other video-recording software of your choice.   You can make movie trailer, business proposal, a tutorial, or even a music video.  The content is not important.  Once you've made the video, state its rhetorical situation, (Statement, Purpose, Main Objective, and Contexts).  Once you've done that, name the readers who would be interested in your video.  

For those of you who do not want to do a video, write about one you would like to create.  Perhaps you want to make a commercial for a small business.  Describe the video you are trying to make, the rhetorical situation of that video, and the different readers.  This will count as two blog posts.  It will be due Feb. 3, 2013, A.D.  Best of luck!

By the way, if you do make a video, make sure it is appropriate.  Use common sense and good taste.

Blog I, Spring 2013

Choices

            Congrats!  After finishing Professor P's Technical Writing Class, you land a job at a hi-tech architecture Firm located in San Diego, California.  Your job is to proofread documents written by engineers.  For the past three months, you do your job beyond expectations.   Dean Davis, your immediate supervisor, promises to promote you next month.  Hearing that makes you feel confident, and you begin to see the reward of all the dues you had to pay.

            As the third month closes, you develop a friendship with your supervisor.  Dean sees you as a close buddy and an ally. 

            One night Dean drops by your tiny office and says he wants to show you something.  You follow him back to this office and see Anna, a computer programmer and electrical engineer for the company.  Dean walks back to large filing cabinet and opens the drawer.  He takes out a large bottle of Jack Daniels and places it on the desk.  Anna smiles as he reveals three shot glasses from the bottom drawer of his desk; her dimpled cheeks lure you into a feeling of terminal curiosity.

            "Sit, down," Dean says, twisting off the cap.

             Before you can ask what is going on, Dean says, "I like your work, and you seem like someone I can trust.  I was thinking that you might want to earn more money."

            Despite the angelic instincts given to you by your mother, you decide to inquire further.  Besides, she never made much money being good.

            "Anna and I are in the deconstruction business.  We have special clients who ask us to construct buildings with faulty electrical engineering so that they burn down.  Afterwards, we all split the insurance money and construct a smaller building for a fraction of the original cost.  Would that be something you are interested in?"  

            You say, "Go on."

            Dean pours Anna's glass.  He glides to the back of his desk, gracefully falling into the comfort of his leather chair.  He throws his feet on the desk and rests his hands on the back of his head.  "For this deal, I need you to approve a defect in Anna's design that will cause certain components to get a little hot."  Dean throws Anna a smile as her eyes dart in his direction.

            Suddenly, the suppressed good employee in you urges a voice in your conscience: "What about the company?"

            Dean laughs, dropping his hands on the desk with a slam.  "Oh, the poor, poor company.  Whatever will they do when their little building burns down?  Trust me.  After this deal, you won't need to work for any company.  You can disappear and retire.  Enjoy life."

            Anna and Dean are staring at you.  Anna throws gives you a toothy green, flashing her brilliant, milky teeth.

            You start thinking about the proposition as Dean prepares a toast.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

For this blog, you are to write about what you would do next.   When you write the outcome of this hypo, I need you to answer the following for full credit:

(1)Would you take a chance and go with Dean and Anna?  Or would you try to escape?

(2)If you stay, what consequences might there be?  What rewards might you reap should you think you can get away with an unethical choice?

(3)If you decide to leave, write a little ending to this tale on how you would refuse the offer.   Write about one benefit and one pitfall of making either the ethical or unethical choice.